Victims group questions visits by 2 retired archbishops

Victims of clergy sex abuse on Wednesday called on newly installed Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki to explain why two retired archbishops who've played prominently in the sex abuse scandal nationally - Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee and Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati - will lead liturgies next week at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

At the same time, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are asking the archdiocese to remove from the historic church a bronze image in bas relief that depicts Weakland alongside children. He has admitted in a memoir and court depositions that he shielded abusive priests.

"This individual is responsible for transferring and concealing dozens of priests who molested and raped children," SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely said of Weakland in a news conference Wednesday with other victims and family members outside the Milwaukee cathedral.

"And he's immortalized himself in bronze . . . in the place of Jesus shepherding children," Isely said.

Weakland, who retired in 2002 after it was revealed he paid $450,000 in hush money to a male lover, is scheduled to lead a prayer service Tuesday as part of the seventh biennial Cathedral Ministry Conference that will draw about 80 people from around the country to St. John's next week, according to the archdiocese.

Later that evening, it says, Listecki is scheduled to celebrate Mass alongside Pilarczyk, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who in 2003 entered a plea of no contest on behalf of the Cincinnati archdiocese, which was convicted of failing to report clergy sex abuse to civil authorities during the 1970s and '80s.

Listecki was still hosting guests after Monday's installation and was unavailable for comment, according to the archdiocese, which issued a statement disputing SNAP's interpretation of the art, but making no mention of Pilarczyk or the liturgies.

Spokeswoman Julie Wolf said the Mass had been on the calendar of Listecki's predecessor, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, and referred any other questions to St. John's Rector Father Carl Last, who is hosting next week's events at the cathedral and the Pfister Hotel.

Weakland's and Pilarczyk's involvement in the church handlings of the clergy sex abuse cases have been reported nationally, including in The New York Times and the Journal Sentinel. Last said the archbishops were invited to speak at the conference because of their expertise - Weakland's on the controversial $10 million renovation of the Milwaukee cathedral; Pilarczyk's on the cathedral as the spiritual home of a diocese.

Echoing the archdiocese's statement, Last and Chicago artists Jeffrey H. Varilla and Anna Koh Varilla said SNAP is misinterpreting the bronze image, that Weakland played no role in commissioning the art and that he appears in it, holding the staff of the shepherd, only as the archbishop at the time.

Last said there's no need to remove it from the cathedral.

"We have images of all 10 of the archbishops of Milwaukee in the cathedral, and one could argue whether all are deserving," Last said. "But they are part of the history."

The Milwaukee archdiocese is facing several civil lawsuits involving at least 14 victims over its handling of clergy sex abuse cases dating to the 1960s.

Those cases are stalled while the archdiocese and its insurance companies battle over who would pay any judgment. The archdiocese has said it could be bankrupted if it loses the cases.

Except for interviews meant to promote his memoir published last year, Weakland has maintained a relatively low public profile since his retirement. It's unclear whether his participation in the conference and central role as a concelebrant at Listecki's installation mark a departure from that posture.

If so, it likely has more to do with Weakland and his book than the change in Milwaukee archbishops, said John Allen, who covers the Catholic Church for the National Catholic Reporter.

"This is a guy who was an amazingly public figure for most of his life, and he still believes he has things to say," Allen said. "I see this as a testing of the waters."